This invention relates to an insulation displacement terminal (hereinafter press-connecting terminal) of a press-connecting connector, and also to a device for detecting an erroneous insertion of the press-connecting terminal into a connector housing.
Generally, a press-connecting connector has press-connecting terminals of different sizes received in a common connecter housing in juxtaposed relation. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a conventional press-connecting terminal and a conventional press-connecting connector, respectively, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open (Kokai) Utility Model Application No. 138266/85.
The press-connecting terminal A includes a base plate 1 which has at its front end portion an electric contact portion 2 for contact with a mating terminal. The base plate 1 has an electric wire-press connecting portion 3 disposed rearwardly of the electric contact portion 2, the electric wire-press connecting portion 3 having a pair of slots 3a and 3b. An upstanding tension-absorbing plate 5 is formed on the rear end of the base plate 1 for absorbing the tension of an electric wire W press-connected to the electric wirepress connecting portion 3. An electric wire-clamping portion 4 includes insulator-holding pieces 4a and 4b which are pressed for deformation.
The press-connecting terminals A are inserted respectively into terminal insertion chambers 7 of a connector housing B, as shown in FIG. 6, the rear upper wall of each terminal insertion chamber 7 being open. Then, each of the electric wires W is press-fitted in the slots 3a and 3b of the electric wire-press connecting portion 3 of the corresponding press-connecting terminal A, using a press-connecting jig. Then, a cover C is attached to the connector housing B, and they are locked or fixed relative to each other by means of locking plates 8 and locking pawls 9.
When the connector housing B is adapted to receive different sizes of press-connecting terminals for connection respectively with the various electric wires, unless each member of the electric wire/terminal pair corresponds to each other in size, the press-connection of the electric wire to the press-connecting terminal cannot be satisfactorily achieved electrically or physically. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm and inspect whether or not each terminal has been inserted erroneously into the housing.
However, the conventional press-connecting terminals A hardly differ in size from each other from their appearance, as shown in FIG. 5. The only differences are the width of the electrical contact portion 2 and the width of the slots 3a and 3b. Thus, no special mechanism is provided for discriminating the terminal size. Therefore, once the terminals are inserted into the housing, it is difficult to discriminate the size, and it has been impossible to check beforehand whether or not a proper size of terminal is inserted properly into the corresponding terminal insertion chamber 7.